Merlin Effect - Royal Architect

So I just started writing a bit of fanfiction, mostly to give it a try. This particular story universe starts with the events of Merlin and then goes radically in different directions. The idea for how the story runs is that as I get ideas for moments in time I will write them out. Which means time jumps are a major part of it. This is being shown first because it was this idea that led me to creating it in the first place. I have dozens of different segments written up now, with more hopefully on the way. If there is interest I might post them. If not I will still write them but for me. Also none of these have been beta checked, they are stream of consciousness writing.

I do hope you enjoy!

Royal Architect
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One fine day Arthur was walking around the castle in the hopes of finding his manservant Merlin. After looking in all the normal places he found himself heading toward one of the older towers of the castle, in a portion which hadn't been actively used for courtly life for the last two decades. Just as he was getting angry over the lack of Merlin's presence he came upon a round chamber full of random boxes of storage up against most walls.

That wouldn't have been the interesting part, if it wasn't for the desk and chair full of piled on papers that he found in the room. Coming closer to see who had decided to take over the room he noticed something quite apparent. "Of course it would be Merlin's writing, who else would decide to move partially into a random room in order to waste even more of his time."

But as he said that he began to actually look at the paperwork, not just glance at them. They included copies of the various progress reports and documentations that as Prince he was designated to oversee. Merlin seemed to be looking over them in order to - 'yes, I see, this makes sense' - actually understand what was going on so he could better provide Arthur with updates and advice.

'So this is how Merlin seems to actually know what is going on, he studies it in this room.' Arthur says as he looks around again with newly visible eyes, though nothing besides the desk is even remotely interesting. So he sat down at the desk and began looking through, to really see what Merlin was thinking - which actually matched exactly what he always said to him.

Suddenly though, the door bangs open and a frazzled Merlin comes in, speaking outloud to himself since he obviously didn't even see Arthur in the room.

"What a blasted IDIOT. He is such a fool, Melanie knows more about the proper use of garden space than Cam has knoweldge in his whole head. Just because his father is a knight of Uther doesn't give him the right to - *Eep, crash*. Merlin says as he looks up sees Arthur and proceeds to trip over his own feet and fall flat on the ground.

Arthur can't help but smile at the antics of Merlin, 'oh Merlin' he thinks, 'what am I going to do with you.' But then he stands up and says, "well well well, so this is where you get to when you have suddenly dissapeared. You comandeered an office all for your own use." But then he pauses, "and what is it that Cam has done this time to rattle your nerves."

Merlin stands up, dusts off the dirt that fell on his pants and looks at Arthur truly. "Arthur, what are you doing here, did you need me for something."

"Yes, why else would I be walking around the castle looking for you. But that is not the point anymore, something else interests me more. Which is this room Merlin and what you are doing." He says lifting an eyebrow at Merlin's rather rediculous antics.

"Well this is where I go when I need to do some work to better serve my clotpole of a prince." He says without shame or submission, which is of course Merlin entirely. "If you need to know I asked the steward about making use of a small room that was ignored and he said to use this one. Though the rest of the floors in this tower are locked, not that I need them or anything. But here I work on various written and artistic projects that I have started before I present them to Gaius or you or whoever would implement them." The last part is said with a bit of a shake, as if for a moment he forgot his capabilities and was about to put on the image of him being less than he actually was. But thankfully, as far as Arthur thought, he thought better than it.

"What are some of those projects?" Arthur says wonderingly, knowing that this was not the time to take the piss at Merlin and make him clam up.

"Well, if you open that one draw to your right it has a bunch of folios of my ideas. After the dead knights attacked last week I made some sketches on how we could redesign some of the roads leading up to the castle to give us better viewing. And underneath that was a map I made of the castle's design, to better organize where workers are assigned when they into the city." A rub of the hair, "there are others, but those are the most immediate."

As Merlin was talking Arthur had found the papers and was looking through them. His gasp of surprise wasn't loud enough to stop Merlin as he was talking. But when Merlin actually stopped Arthur took the chance, "Sketches you say, Merlin, honestly, these are amazing. Who knew you could draw. These images of the castle are some of the best I have seen. Even better than what some of our court artists are able to produce."

"Ah, thanks," and he gives a bright open smile which sends a flutter right to Arthur's heart. He loves that smile. "I don't really show it to most people or make them known to be mine. Its just something that I do you know, its a bit of a stress relief the art."

"You are really good, I am going to have to ask you to draw for me sometimes, I would love to look at more of these pictures." And then a thought came to Arthur's head, "Have you made use of this talent for official Camelot purpose. Cause the style seems familiar?"

"Oh, yeah, I have. Geoffrey of Monmouth saw one of my sketches a little while ago and since then he occassionally asks me to replace a bit of art work from a book or document. Its probably why you recognize it a bit, though I don't exactly want anyone to know." Then he smiles again and turns to Arthur. "It is also why I have better access to the Library than most other people in the castle, which comes in handy to be honest."

"Well Merlin, we are definitely going to have to discuss this further. Its a nice talent you have and there was no reason for you to keep it secret. Also, its nice to know where you do the translations and fixes when you provide me with updates on official court documents." Arthur says with an air of lordship while gestuing for Merlin to come sit next to him so they can go over some of the materials.

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Later on.

"But Arthur hear me out. While I don't like the fact that Camelot gets attacked on what seems like a weekly basis I think there is a potential in how we repair it. We don't have to just repair it to the way it was we could actually make it better. Make it healthier and more efficient, even more beautiful." Merlin says while gesturing widly.

Trying not to smile at the antics. "Wouldn't that increase the cost and make the repair even longer. Since we would have to establish new plans whenever a part of the city is damaged."

"Not if we made an assumption that the city might be attacked again - which I don't think is a bad assumption sire - and designed things a bit more widely than just what is damaged.

"Merlin, what you are suggesting is that we redesign the city to make it fit our needs but only implementing it when something goes horrible." An idea that partly has Arthur shocked but also intrigued, there is much potential in the idea.

"YES! Exactly Arthur." And Merlin beams at him, and oh boy, is he a gonner.

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Again, some time later.

"So Merlin, I was thinking about the idea of us having more spaces for trees and gardens in the city. It could provide us with additional vegetable and fruit reserves beyond just the outer farms."

"Oh that is brilliant Arthur, I knew you would be great at this!" And a huge smile on Merlin's face brings an answering one to Arthur's. "There are many benefits to green spaces being designed around the city. It would make it beautiful and if we picked certain trees that smelled nicely we could also block out the odor of a lot of people in tight spaces."

"Yes, that would benefit us quite a bit. And practically it would also provide cover to soldiers from attacks from the air and barricades to hide beyond when the city is being sieged. Which could help us defend the city against our enemies."

"And related once a tree grows to a certain size we could always mandate it be cut down to provide firewood and construction material. Though I would think for every tree cut something like three need to be planted to replace it."

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And at another time.

"We really need to decide what we are going to do with that giant crater that now exists in front of the Royal Hill. ts both an eyesore and a deathtrap and it doesn't say much about us if we keep it there." Arthur says to Merlin as they are gathered around Merlin's desk in his not-so-secret secret tower chamber.

"Yes, that is true. I was thinking about it earlier today to be honest. From what I understand the court is divided between two different ideas, both I think pointless. The first group wants to smooth out the sides and redevelop the bottom of the it as a new district. The second wants to gather stone and dirt from somewhere else in Camelot and fill in the hole." There is a pause. "Don't look at me like that Arthur, I didn't come up with either option. I could forsee the first but to do the second, wasteful. That said it looks like that might be the way they are going about it if something doesn't change."

"Change, yes, Merlin, I think change is needed. Come with me, I think its time we speak to Father." Arthur says as the gets up to head to the office of the King.

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Which leads to this a week later.

"And on this day I do declare that until further notice my son, Prince Arthur Pendragon, will have the honors and responsibilities of becoming the Chief Architect for the City of Camelot. In his hands I present the authority to decide the future of the design and organization of this fair city." So declared King Uther to the assembled masses of the Court, both noble and commoner.

"Thank you Father, I graciously accept the position and will do all I can to make sure Camelot herself becomes the shining example of what cities can be." Arthur says, while nodding at his father and smiling at the court.

'Oh, this will be interesting. Thank you father for giving me a chance to make Camelot mine.' Arthur thinks to himself while the rest of the court continues to clap.

When matters settle down Arthur speaks again. "As my first act as the Chief Architect I am going to personally oversee the reclamation of Garen District. Its continuing presence as a crater in our fair city is a blight that should not stand, though I fear that healing it won't be an immediate idea. The idea I present before this court is that we turn it into a lake, man-made yes but at the same time natural. We will have to work on some of its outer sides and secure some of its foundations but it will in time become a beautiful site within our city. And to those wondering where the water will come from, I am told from numerous sources that there exist a number of dammed springs and blocked rivers in the area that we can alter to provide water. I know that when this is done the city of Camelot will be even more beautiful a haven.

He smiles as the clapping intensifies as the citizenry begin imagining it, and find that they love the idea.

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This occurs a bit later.

Merlin walks into the room to see Arthur standing over his desk looking at some maps. At a quick glance they appear to be of Camelot, though they also look really old. "What is that Arthur."

"Oh Merlin, welcome. As Prince Regent there are a number of rooms open to me that were previously locked. In one of them I found these old maps of a really old version of Camelot. Obviously they are copied ones, I am not even sure the founders had this sort of material when the city was built." He looks up at Merlin as he says all this, even though the maps are very interesting to him.

"From these maps I can see that the foundations of Camelot were actually Roman. The maps have indications of being built by the Roman legions. Its very fascinating to me." Arthur continues, talking further to Merlin about various sites and the reasons for them. Merlin enjoyed the conversation, even if he didn't speak much as he loved hearing the passion in Arthur's voice.

When Arthur eventually seemed to wind down Merlin took the time to make a comment. "Looking at the maps Arthur I think if we expanded these roads" - which sees Merlin pointing to a particular set of roads which cross - "we could rebuild the central east-west and north-south axis the Romans designed in the building. It would make things better in the long run to be honest."

"That is very true Merlin. It would also increase the rate of movement and even enhance the atmosphere of the city. Yes. I think we should go about this." Nod, nod, after a pause. "Please get some paper, let us draw these great roads as it pertains to the current city. I think it will do a lot to increase the grandeur of the city."

And so the two would work long into the night on this new project.

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Of course not all discussions are comfortable which sees this event happening later on.

"It has come to my attention Arthur that you seek to repair the ruins of sorcery in the west quadrant of the city. You know that such an act is forbidden, I want that site to stay like it is as a testament to the folly and corruption of sorcery." King Uther booms at his son in a private meeting.

"Of course father, I understand that completely. That is not what I intended as I was redesigning that area. In fact, I am not entirely sure how that idea even came up to you in conversation." Is what Arthur replies with while shaking his head.

"Then what was your intent, for I see the plans and they seem close to such an event."

"Father. The area so zoned lies within a portion of the city which was hard hit by some recent attacks. The plan we had was to rebuild a lot of the buildings so that they property lines have garden spaces around then, as we have done in other parts of the city to great results. To this end I find it pointless to create an entirely new design when one that we already have will be perfect. The map you have in your hand was the one for the new church we will build in an eastern district. That is why the central building looks in good design in the plan. In the design in the forbidden area the only change is that where we have a small decorative wall in the temple the wall will be mich higher so as to impede access. In front of the wall the space is garden and plaza, behind the wall the area is going to be left untouched as per your declaration." Arthur says in complete truth, for that is exactly what he and Merlin had planned. Since they both realized that leaving the site untouched at this time provided them with many more options in the future.

"Right. I assume you didn't update the map yet when this one got sent out." There is a pause from the King. "Well then, you are doing a good job my son, I am pleased with the work. You may leave."

"Thank you father." Arthur says as he nods and walks out of the room, it was time to meet Merlin and go hunting.